» The Habs

The Montreal Canadiens start their season with a W after defeating the Boston Bruins 2-1 at the “TD Banknorth Garden”.

This escaped me until now, being the first time I heard the new name of the Fleet Center. TD Banknorth Garden? What the hell is that? Wow it just rolls off the tongue.

Back to the topic at hand, the Canadiens came out with 2 pts on the road in their opening game. Did they deserve it? Questionable. After what can only be described as a brutal 2nd period the Canadiens came back LATE in the 3rd with a Michael Ryder powerplay goal. Jan Bulis opened the scoring with a brilliant effort fending off a Bruins defender as he drove the net to chip a shot over Andrew Raycroft’s left shoulder.

Jose Theodore let in what can only be considered a soft goal, and on numerous occasions looked out of place and confused in goal.

The Canadiens scored the winning goal on a powerplay given in the last minute of the game. The NHL said they will enforce the rules and it appears they are after awarding a powerplay so late in a close score game. I’d like to point out this goal, because the real rookie of the year Michael Ryder put it behind the fraudulent Andrew Raycroft.

What was really disturbing about the night was the childish bruins fans who hurled the NHL’s gift to opening night fans, mini Stanley Cups. Maybe this is indicative of the respect the Bruins fans show for the Stanley Cup and explains why they are never close to winning it. As someone who respects the Bruins organization, this was just a distasteful disrespective act on the part of Bruins fans.

In an unrelated story, the First shootout of the season took place between the Senators and the Leafs. Eric Lindros made a surprising strong impact in his first game scoring what looked like the winning goal late in the third. Daniel Alfredsson crushed Lindros’ hopes of being the hero by tying it up late in the 3rd. The Sens went on to win in a shoot out and ended Eric’s debut.

The long awaited 2005-2006 NHL season is set to kick off tonight and all 30 teams are in action. The hockey pool drafts are over, the mundane pre-season action has ended for good and the greatest sport in the world is set to go. NHL hockey is a distant memory to most of us and I for one am thrilled to be able to relax, crack open a beer and enjoy some NHL action again.

I have ‘come back’ to the NHL, but I never really left. Montrealers will be watching RDS tonight and probably tuning in to the other networks during commercial just to get their hockey fix. The real test will be in the United States and small market teams. Will they come back? Were they ever really there?

The NHL blasts off with all 30 teams playing tonight including many divisional rivalries kicking off their 8 game series.Key Matchups:

Leafs vs Sens

Habs vs Bruins

Sidney Crosby makes his long anticipated debut. The rookie talent pool this year is perhaps the deepest ever. The season will hold many surprises that is certain. The Montreal Canadiens for good or bad, have the highest expectations placed on them in a long time. Let’s hope they live up to their potential.